Observant One

Every five years, teachers in Virginia are required to renew their teaching license.  As part of my licensure renewal, I had to take a First Aid and CPR course, which I completed last night.

This morning, as we were all getting ready for work/school, I told my family that I had an announcement to make: I could now save their lives in a medical emergency.

I heard Brad whisper to Hannah, "No, she couldn't."

So I started to defend myself by listing off my new skill-set: rigid splints, soft splints, compression wraps, Epi-pen administration, CPR, stop bleeding, and the use of an AED.

Brad especially didn't believe that I could operate an AED.  So he asked me, "What does AED stand for?"

To which I replied, "I don't know, but I know how to use one to save your life."

He laughed, I laughed, Hannah laughed, and then Brad shared that he knew that I wouldn't know the answer to that question before he even asked.

"Notice how Daddy makes fun of me?" I asked Hannah.

"Yeah...I noticed that a long time ago!" she giggled.

Silent Sunday

First Comes Love

Our neighbor friends came over to play with the kiddos today.  In their adventures, Riley and Emerson found a giant, two-headed, stuffed snake, so Jack was making it hiss and pretending to have it crawl towards the girls.

One of them shared that she didn't like snakes, so Jack took it upon himself to tell her that his daddy used to breed snakes.  "Do you know what breed means?" he asked.

As I tried to figure out the best way to intervene, Jack explained as best he could.

"It means when two snakes love each other and they make a completely new snake!"

So I quietly walked away and jotted that little nugget down so that I wouldn't forget how completely tactful and appropriate my little man was in explaining a tricky subject to his four year old friends.

And then I smiled because, somewhere along the way, he's learned that loves come first :)

Silent Sunday

{Coldplay at FedEx Field}

You're So Old!

Tonight we had breakfast for dinner.  Mostly because it's easy and quick, and I know my kids will eat well!

Brad fixed the bacon and the littles were overjoyed and eager to eat as much of it as possible.  We asked them to share it equally, and Jack was kind enough to offer some of his to me.  When Hannah found out I wasn't going to take him up on his offer, she was excited to have a few extra slices.  We had to explain to her that he was still going to eat it, and he celebrated this small victory.

Playfully, Brad joked with Hannah by saying, "You got served!"

Jack had a questioning look on his face, so Brad started to explain that it was from a movie called You Got Served, when Jack interrupted to say, "Oh, like you got burned!"

Brad responded by saying, "No, that's a little extreme..."

To which Jack had to explain that the phrases, "You got served!" and "You got burned!" mean the same thing.

And then, laughing to himself, he joked, "You're so old!"

I laughed so hard, juice almost came out of my nose.  Dinner with my family is never dull!

STEAM Night

Tonight Jack and Hannah's school hosted a STEAM Night.  STEAM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math.  To me, it sounded right up Brad's alley, so I sent him with the kids :)

They had a lot of fun, and while Hannah did mention when she got home that she wished I'd been there, I'm glad they got to spend some fun time engineering with their dad.

First, they participated in a 10-foot egg drop.  Brad explained to me that this is a cube structure.  They put the egg in a bag and then surrounded the bag with newspaper.  Then they buffered that newspaper with extra newspaper inside the cube structure to protect the egg.  And their egg didn't break!

Next, they went to a station called Spinning Spheres.  They made a Spongebob structure, and then placed it around a sphero (when I asked Brad how to describe a sphero, he replied, "An autonomous, multidirectional, spherical android," so there you have it).  The sphero could somehow be controlled by a tablet.  I love that last picture so much - my happy scientists, having a blast!

So glad they got to go and burn some creative energy!

Easter Monday

Today was our first day back at school after Spring Break.  Our day went pretty smoothly - aside from being a little tricky to wake up so early, everyone got off to a great start.  I was able to leave work shortly after my school day ended, and I got the kids early so we could come home and relax.  Hannah had her jammies on hours before bedtime, and as soon as her head hit the pillow, she was out!  Jack wasn't far behind.  We'll see how we do tomorrow, when the "newness" of being back at school has worn off.

In the meantime, I wanted to share some pictures from our Easter festivities.  Yesterday was a day packed with family and fun!

Hannah's Basket

Jack's Basket

This year the bunny left their baskets on the TV console instead of on our coffee table.  When the kiddos looked over the balcony first thing in the morning, there were no baskets to be found!  I had two crying little lovelies waking me up at 7:15 to exclaim that the Easter Bunny didn't come.  I don't think the bunny realized that he's always left the baskets elsewhere...luckily, I was able to dry their tears and show them that, in fact, the Easter Bunny did come!  Poor things...

Early morning light and an Easter egg hunt

Family photo - and yes, we matched on purpose :)

Uncle John, Dylan, and Aunt Ryan

Cousin Love

Dessert table

Family photo

Easter table - so lovely!

My carrots!  New recipe found here

My favorite holiday meal

We did an egg hunt for the cousins - one indoors with egg fillers and one outside without fillers.  How cute are these egg hunt signs I found at Target?

Everyone did a nice job of helping one another find their eggs!

And, of course, Hannah had plenty of time to love on Buddah-Bear!  Note: She shared her baby blanket with Buddah because she just loves him so much!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter and enjoyed the beautiful day outside!